Jaideep Ahlawat spoke on Gangs of Wasseypur’s re-release.

Actor Jaideep Ahlawat calls Gangs of Wasseypur, his “first knock at the door of Indian cinema!” The 44-year-old, who played the character of Shahid Khan in the Anurag Kashyap directorial venture now wishes to watch the crime-thriller on the big screen again.

Following the announcement of the two-part film re-releasing at cinema halls on August 30, we got Jaideep to look back at the classic. In an exclusive chat with Zoom, Jaideep shared how GoW will always remain special.

On Gangs of Wasseypur re-release

“So many people who had watched it on laptop or hadn’t seen it at all will finally get to do that on the big screen. Even I’m planning to go for it. Last I watched it was at Cannes Film Festival (2012). I don’t know how many people will be able to recognise me sitting in the audience with them!” Jaideep gushed.

Gangs of Wasseypur had an array of actors, including many who were pretty new to Bollywood back then. Even for Jaideep, the movie was among his first few releases, something that strengthened his footing in Hindi cinema.

Looking back at playing Shahid Khan

Recalling the experience of being part of a cult franchise, Jaideep shared, “I always say that GoW was my first knock at the door of Indian cinema as if telling you that, okay, there’s someone standing outside.”

“It was an incredible experience. We were new and trying to find a footing. Honestly, at that time, I had no idea what I was doing in that film and how I performed. When it released and the kind of reaction it got, that’s when I realised what I became a part of,” he added.

More about Gangs of Wasseypur

Gangs of Wasseypur follows three generations of a family who are up against rival groups in a power struggle, politics and vengeance in the backdrop of the coal mafia (Mafia Raj) of Dhanbad. Jaideep’s Shahid Khan plays the patriarch who kicks off the story after getting killed due to a coal mafia gang war.

With a run-time of 321 minutes, director Anurag Kashyap decided to release Gangs of Wasseypur in two parts – June 2012 and August 2012. That was a rare feature in Indian cinema for its time, but it turned into a good decision with the two movies receiving huge critical acclaim.

Working with Anurag Kashyap

Jaideep opined that given the rise of OTT and the changing taste of the audience, there’s a chance that the film will be received better today. “I believe it was ahead of its time. 10 years is a long duration for anything to change. In these 10 years, the exposure of the audience has changed a lot, especially after the boom of OTT,” Jaideep added.

Reflecting on his rapport with Anurag Kashyap over the years, the actor shared that the two continue to root for each other. Calling Anurag “a great filmmaker”, Jaideep shared, “Whatever I did back then was under Anurag’s conviction because we were new, we were learning. We were exploring our strengths as actors. So I had left a lot of things completely on him to decide.”

“Raazi came, Paatal Lok came, he saw my work over the years. He always calls me to compliment and appreciate my work. During Paatal Lok, he called me and discussed the project and my process in detail for 30 minutes. Today, he keeps recommending my name to others and asks me to try new subjects. This back-and-forth keeps happening,” he added.

Growing trend of re-releasing a film

Over the last few months, there’s been an influx of re-releases. While Laila Majnu returned recently, Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein and Tumbbad are also set to re-release this week. Reacting to the growing trend, Jaideep rejected the opinion that popular Bollywood movies are coming back because of a dearth of good movies to watch on the big screen.

He said, “It’s not that Bollywood doesn’t have good new movies to release. There’s still a bombardment, so much influx that filmmakers don’t know where to release them. But to watch a good movie again after 10 years is a different thing. Like Rockstar re-released, a cult movie that worked on word-of-mouth publicity. If you re-watch a film after 10 years, you realise factors that made it great then.”

So how did Gangs of Wasseypur help him grow as an actor? “I realised that you don’t need to enact every small thing. Just feel it and it will be conveyed.” He signed off.